Trader X

12/6/11 Wyckoff and VSA

2011-12-06T13:38:00.001-08:00

Well... it's been a while but much has happened. For years (decades?) I've searched for a better understanding to the actions of the auction markets. I've built gosh knows how many different systems and some have even done OK over the years. Especially over longer time frames. My search for something short term has been in vain until I was finally hit over the head with a 2X4 while watching a video by Todd Krueger. Todd runs Traderscode.com which is a great source for 2 seminars but the Wyckoff seminar is what finally did it for me. Just google Wyckoff if you want to read about the man. The thing to note here is that what worked 100 years ago still works today. A testament to the never changing psychology of the human brain! Sad but true. I mean look at our never ceasing march toward socialism. Do we never learn? Apparently not. Wyckoff understood that by learning how the pros work will aid the small trader and that is what he taught back in the 20's/30's. VSA or Volume Spread Analysis is the modern update of the same principles from 100 years ago. Google Tom Williams for the originator of VSA. Being able to interpret the price/volume action is the basic concept of VSA. If you understand that it will greatly help you in your trading. I am just scratching the surface of that understanding but I will tell you that I will never look at the market the same way again. Never! Now I can start to see the way we are manipulated by the fear greed cycle and the way the pros take advantage of those cycles. At first everything these guys were saying was completely backwards to my old thinking. I mean how could a huge up bar on huge volume be a sign of weakness? Well it is. See the pros have to sell into those huge up bars because othewise they would move the market themselves. Backwards I know... but after a while it starts to think in. Like so many things in life once you get it through your thick skull it all makes perfect sense.You do not need software to see this... In fact you do not need anything but Price and Volume to see this. No indicators! Trust me... I was the king of indicators and have written so many in Tradestaton code it makes me cringe at the huge waste of time it was for years! Maybe decades for me. Oh well.....Some of the best stuff I found was at the usual places.... Informedtrades.com, traderslaboratory.com, Forexfactory.comThey all discuss VSA and or Wyckoff at length. Start down the right path now... don't waste years like I did.Trader X

4/11/2011 Price action

2011-04-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

I have been really studying a very new but perhaps the oldest style of trading. Price action and volume. I have come to realize that the only two indicators that are not lagging are price and volume. Why use anything else if everything else is based off of price and volume? My conclusion is that the CORE of great traders use nothing else. Now... there are many different names for this. In the 20's to 30's it was called tape reading. Now most people use charts instead of time and sales (although there are those that still use that modern version of the old tickertape) and now call it volume spread analysis. Just price action traders will sometimes not take into account volume. My idea is to use both from the classic Wyckoff style on a candle chart or bar chart (really the same thing just look different). Wyckoff price action is a true understanding of the fear and greed cycle of the markets at any time frame. The market is fractal and the cycle is very similar if not the same on most if not all time frame, unless you are trading very short time frames like 5min or less. Understanting those cycles and learning to interpret them on the hard right side of the chart is the key. This is perhaps the hardest thing in trading I've ever done but perhaps the most rewarding!

Trader X

2/24/11

2011-03-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

As so many traders will attest this journey is one of 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. In the last couple of weeks I have not traded except for longer term etf stuff. I have been distracted by getting a house on the market and by getting the new one ready for a lawn! I have been doing a lot of thinking about what my next step is and what plateau I have been on for a while and what it is going to take to climb to the next plateau.

First let's think about accomplishments. I have created trading systems and have made money with those. I have built the disciplines to follow them through hell or high water. Those were major accomplishments but something was lacking.

A mentor has been very successful at trading longer charts with emphasis on divergence. While on conference call last night we spend a whole lot of time on Wyckoff. Something finally clicked in my brain. As you both know I have been thinking a lot about building context. A whole lot. The great traders of the world can build context and then use simple system to take advantage of that context. What really hit me last night was the concept of context and what it really means. I have been dancing around these concepts and writing code to examine one or two very small parts of this context without ever seeing the much much larger picture.... context.

So here it is in a nutshell. In order to build context on all time frames what I have been missing is the ability to "read" the markets. I always thought that it was sort of hocus pocus to "read" the markets with any accuracy. Well I don't think so anymore. Enter Price action and volume.

naked traders only use price action with volume to "read" the charts. Divergence is just another way to do the same if you think about it. The volume is incorporated into the divergence of price bars.

The old style of traders used to call this tape reading.... which they would do by looking at price and how many shares traded there. All this is, is just supply and demand! Very simple right. Well I am beginning to think it is. You can't fake supply and demand... either it traded or it didn't. that supply and demand is based off of volume of course. the market seeks volume.. without it the market dies. Literally.

Where I'm going with this is the very back to basics study of price/volume study of tape reading. Now days we don't look at tape (although we do have that window in TS for fun). We look at bar charts with volume to understand the supply/demand concepts.

My first step into this work is Wyckoff. A 20-30's master of the subject that unlike Gann, is understandable and what he talks about 80 years ago still applies to the markets, and all markets, today.

Once you understand the basics of supply/demand then pick the system you would like to use to take advantage of that and on what time frame.

I guess what I'm saying here is I'm taking a zillion steps back to basics to build a foundation that I have never had before, but once achieved will be useful for a lifetime.

Trader X

2/17/11.... new directions!

2011-02-17T07:48:00.000-08:00

OK... well not really but let me explain. This stupidly simple system has been floundering as of short. I've decided that what I really need is a way to identify what kind of market we are in so I can apply the system that fits that market.

Trading is really just matching the oscillations of the market to your trading system until it changes and then you need to change systems. Some people advise as many as 6 different systems but I think a basic 2-3 are more than enough. The trick is when do use your trend following system, Breakout, or reversion to the mean system.

I'm just going to start by using very simple stuff like MACD,RSI and maybe ADX to create a simple Green(up),Red(down), or black(sidways or reversion to mean).

Keeping it simple!

Trader X!

1/24/11 The chicken or the egg......

2011-01-24T10:29:00.001-08:00

So which one came first? The correct answer is the chicken, but forget that for a moment. In my quest to follow my systems I've come across the whole concept of faith being greater than fear to follow a system. Now the question is the classic chicken and egg question. Which comes first... Faith in the system or following the system.

In order to follow the system you need faith in the system to follow it. It is very hard to follow it without faith... but without faith you won't follow. Which comes first? Neither. For me it was a very gradual increase in both. I would follow it a little and it would work and then I wouldn't follow it and bad trades happen. It was a process of gaining confidence to follow it more and more and as I did I build more faith that the system worked which allowed me to follow it more consistantly and with less emotions involved. There was a process for me that I can clearly see. I didn't see it as it was happening but now I can see it and I find this very valuable for me as I develop other systems. I will need to know how to trade them successfully. Here are my steps that I took.

1.Develop system with edge.
2.Backtest to establish that edge does exits
3.Trade it with smallest contracts size possible and be aware of your TEA.
4.When you screw up stop trading and review your mistakes.
5.Trade small size again and stop when making mistakes.
5.Keep reviewing daily.

Eventually you will make fewer mechanical mistakes, which cause emotional mistakes of not following system. The fewer mechanical mistake, and by cause and effect the fewer emotional mistakes, will allow you to start making money. Once that happens you will build even more faith and it's just a circle from there. It will continually build to a very high Q number. I'm currently 90+%

The review of each trade daily... or as soon as you make mistakes, is the key issue here. With out that review you will never know what you should have done and what the outcome would have been. The more you review and see that if you had just followed the plan it would have been a + outcome, over time, in money, confidence, and performance. It is a vicious circle and the only way to climb out is to review your system and how well you trade it.

If the system doesn't make money you can always change it to one that does. If your system does make money and you don't follow it then you have no one to blame but yourself!

Trader X

1/24/11 Last week.....

2011-01-24T10:23:00.000-08:00

Only traded consistantly for a few hours last week... not even 2 days worth. Everyone in the house is sick and sleep time has been a premium! Now that the kids are feeling better the parents are getting it! Just wonderful! LOL

Still... last week was a + week and I followed the rules.

Today was also a big + day and followed rules again. It is becoming second nature to just do what I'm suppose to be doing. I've been trading this for about 2 months now when you take out the holiday breaks and sick weeks! That is about 40 days give or take for me to get this ingrained into my brain. Granted... I'm a little slower than most. Why I'm in mensa is still a mystery to me. As a side note, I really think being of high IQ is not a good thing for a trader as it really doesn't take IQ to just follow the freaking rules now does it! All of this leads me to an interesting question that I'm going to post right now about the chicken and the egg. You will already have read it by now since it will be listed first.

Trader X

1/14/11.....flow of expectancy

2011-01-14T07:13:00.001-08:00

I worked with a trader for a few months that really set the stage for me to get to the next level. Summary of what I learned.

Create a system that has a repeatable visual event. Stay in the flow of expectancy.

The repeatable aspect is simply this. If means that your system has the same triggers over and over and over. You must remove the variability of subjective trading. If you can't do that you don't stand a chance. You can't backtest something that isn't repeatable. Simple but that isn't all.

Once you do have a repeatable visual event that has been backtested to create a positive expectancy, you must not introduce any variability of NOT following the system. Just backtest the hell out of it and then follow it. If you don't then you are removing yourself from that flow of expectancy that you have created. This is where having more faith than fear comes in. I am hungry and need to eat so more on this later!

Trader X

1/14/11 What a great week!

2011-01-14T07:02:00.000-08:00

OK... I may not be quite done yet but it was a great week. I made 4 perfect days out of 5! I had to pay the price of going through a drawdown last night and today of 3 losing trades in a row. Staying the flow of expectancy I gladly pushed the button for the 4th trade and made some back. It was a profitable week. Not a great one but most importantly I followed my rules and built more faith the the system keeps on pluggin away! 4 days out of 5 means I can take the next step. Either another market or to increase size. After a month in a half with improving numbers on Q every week it is time to reward myself.

Trader X

1/12/11 No trades

2011-01-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

No trades today. followed rules so a perfect day. I'm 2:3 this week! I did wake up a little late due to some late night backtesting and missed one long trade that would have hit both tgts. Not complaining because you can't work 24/7. Just nice to know that system worked well even if I wasn't working! LOL

Started backtesting a long bond system and also looking at Corn. will require some work!

Trader X

1/11/11... wow the symmetry of that number.....

2011-01-11T12:28:00.000-08:00

Today was a great day. No mistakes at all. perfect trading and profits to boot... although profits are a byproduct and not the main objective. Three trades and all perfect execution.

Now yesterday was a different story. I had 2 trades before the announcement that were perfect. Announcement was OK to. Problem came after the announcement around 930 I think. I had been trading for 3 hours or so and was getting tired. I went to take a break. Just after I leave the market breaks out and I wasn't there to take the trade. It was a nice trade. I came back and waited for next trade as I should. Of course after a big move we hit congestion again and I was stopped out taking away my earlier profits. I got mad at the market and entered 2 trades off a different chart to try to make it back quickly. 2 mistakes and a further loss of profits. Now if I had just stayed with my main chart I would have had just one stop and more profitable trades ahead. But I got antsy started taking signal from a "faster" chart. Now... I had been trading the faster chart that would have been OK and profitable as well. But the two mixed together are not a good plan. The efforts to improve entry and exits by using two different time frames just causes more chop in a choppy market. It DOES NOT improve results!

I stopped and re-evaluated. I took the next 2 trades as per plan on my main chart and made back the losses as the system does make money if I just leave it alone and follow it! I climbed back to break even for the day and also hit my stop trading time.

I should have been up few ticks but ended up just breakeven.

After evaluating the day, I turned off the other chart with the other time frame.

Last week I traded 4 days and 2 were perfect (no mistakes, and profitable to boot) and 2 I made mistakes. This week I am batting 1 and 1. I would like to end at 4 perfect and one bad. If I can do that then I will start looking at another market as well as increasing size. I am only trading about 1 trade an hour. When the battle heats up I can always shut down the other market. I'm looking at the bonds, or grains. I hope to backtest this week so I can start looking at the charts in real time before trading.

Trader X

PS.... I can't tell you how much better it is to finally, after 6 years, make consistant profits. Much better than being on the other side of things!

1/10/11 Epic week 2.

2011-01-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

So far pretty boring... 630am was the first trade. Hit T1 and stopped on runner. 736am is second trade. Still waiting to hit t1 or get stopped on whole thing. Not looking very good atm but following rules as I should be. It occurs to me that I don't need to be getting up at 5something in the AM as it is usually chop until closer to 730. It will be nice to get 3 more hours of sleep!

While I'm non-emotionally waiting for this trade to take direction I'm going to review some of TFM concepts.
Desire
Clarity
Purpose
Commitment
Order
Self Discipline
Self Reliance
Awareness
Focus
The Now
Perception
Sixth Sense
Truth
Choice
Surrender
Trust
Willingness
Power
Non Resistance
Non Attachment
Forgiveness
Fearlessness
Love
Humility
Selflessness
Gratitude
Cheerfulness
Freedom!

Things for me to continue to work on. Purpose,Awareness,Forgiveness,Gratitude.

Forgiveness and Gratitude are big ones for me... trying to live in that state of bliss which is achieved by forgiveness and gratitude.

Trader X

1/7/11 Epic week 1

2011-01-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

The year of EPIC. Week 1.

The year of epic is this year and it means that I take my daytrading specifically to a new level of perfection. I have been profitable with other types of trading for years but daytrading has befuddeled me. Not anymore. I have cracked the mental issues.. and there were many I am sad to say. Not saying there won't be more but I finally fee as though I am to the point to understanding the CORE issues that have been holding me back and concouring those issues!

When I look at my mistakes from Tues and today... it should have been more like $2500 but I traded Tues and Wed without mistakes. Mistakes today were mostly from announcement and me getting greedy! Still... I will take $1000 and be VERY happy.

I pulled $2500 out of market for Dec. Already $1000 for Jan with a lot more time ahead and better trading habits. I know I will double my Dec results with ease.

I'm batting about 50% Q (quality or efficiency from perfect trading) Dec was only about 25% Q so I am making huge strides forward. Most of the issues were just me finding a system I believe in and was able to psychologically trade... it had to fit me. This stupidly simple system fits me very well.... not sure what says about me but.... I'll take stupid if it makes $$$$$$$$$

I have been doing a lot of work with another trader. We talk a few times a week for accountability. We really hit home on something yesterday that has defined in one word the reason why we have both struggled and have both made huge strides in becoming profitable.

Courage.

Let me define it as I use it. I am a huge WWII buff... and have watched and read volumes on it. Band of Brothers is reviewed annually if not more. That's very hard with kids! One thing you will hear repeatedly by those Hero's and Hero's by classic definition when asked weren't you scared when you ran across the field to get so an so and drag him back to the fox hole, or weren't you scared when you rushed the machine gun nest to take them out, or weren't you scared when you etc..... You get the point. What is ALWAYS the same answer? It's this: "Hell yeah I was scared! But I had to do what I did because it was the right thing to do and I was suppose to do it in SPITE of the FEAR."

After 3 losing trades in a row how scared am I to take the 4th... the one that makes it all back and then some? Heck yeah I'm scared... but I have been taking those trades more and more because my backtesting says that if I don't then I lose money. Tell me something I don't know! I'm scared to take the 3rd winning trade in a row because I know the loser is out there. Hell I'm scared just put on a trade period! OK, well not that scared but you get the point. The more I trade this system the more I own it and I am willing to take the next trade to stay in that stream of reproducible flow of profits (a different entry in itself). The more I trade it the more I know how it acts under any and all conditions. The more I trade it the more FAITH I have that it does make $ over time. Steve nailed this concept about faith.

He says to me one day that he always thought that the fear would go away and that great traders don't feel the fear. I told him the story that great traders still feel the fear, but still trade the system anyway. The fear doesn't go away... at least not completely. Then he comes back to me weeks later and says to me...."I think I understand that the fear doesn't go away, but as your faith grows it becomes larger than fear and allows you to trade the system as it grows even if the fear doesn't go away!" I had never thought of it that way but he is right. He NAILED it! FAITH overcomes fear.

Courage in life: Doing what you know is right despite the consequences and having the faith to do it anyway.

Courage in trading: Following your plan despite the consequences and having the faith to do it anyway.

If there is ONE reason for me performing better, THIS is it. Courage.

12/15/10 Molecules!

2010-12-15T20:25:00.000-08:00

Just had a mind blowing experience meditating as I was letting my son fall asleep. I experienced what it is like to let all the molecules in my body be released from this bodily shell. I know this is weird but I was astrally projecting myself into our solar system and was having fun with the moon when I decided to venture to the sun. I will often imaging myself floating in space while I connect with the God consciousness. Well you know the causes sunburn here on earth and it is very hot as you get close... but of course I wasn't feeling any pain and I wasn't being burn up as you would expect. It was different than that. It was more like being vaporized but in a good way! LOL I know that sounds funny. Anyway..... (keep laughing my
friend!) As was watching my molecules not burn but changing state, which is what burning really is right. We think of burning as a destroying act but it really is just a change of state because physics and Chem tell us that the same material is still there but in a different state. Water doesn't disappear when you burn it... just just turns to steam and then condenses somewhere else or if it stays hot it will just stay as steam. The Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms don't really care do they. They still exist, but just in a different way. I mean we are all just star dust anyway so I saw myself as just stardust! Very cool.

Now what was the point of all of this? Where here it is. The point is that the market is always changing states just like our molecules. We are always taking in and losing part of ourselves just like atoms when we breath, eat, crap etc. We are always changing states as well and not just when we die (ceased to exist).

Well understanding that I am just stardust made me really understand the I am more than connected to the God consciousness because I am part of the God consciousness.... which I believe to be the universe if you will. As part of that equation I understand that the markets are just a tool to be used to create a better connection to the ONE consciousness. I should use that tool without bias and difference to achieve my goals of a higher level of connection. Good stuff!

This message was not sponsored by any mind altering drugs and was achieved with just clear, yet wondering thought in a Delta wave length.

Trader X

11/11/2010 It's been a while..........

2010-11-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

Notes to self...........

when I was in highschool I had a very smart friend who wasn't scared to tell you just how smart he really was. This guy was just a little arrogant because he pulled straight A's. We both by chance had a class together.. it was physics. A great class to test your brain right? He challenged me to do better than him with one caveat.... we had to only spend the same amount of time studying together and no more. He was in the neighborhood so we just went to one or the others house and did ALL of our studying together for all classes, even ones we didn't share. It was a great challenge and granted he did study more than I normally would have but that was OK... it was just one semester that I wasn't out as much with the car and girls!

There were 500 points possible in the class. I got 495 and he got 494. He never let me live that down. I remember using my desire to not lose or even stronger.. to not let him win because he kinda pissed me off to keep me going. It worked very well. It was also the only semester I got straight A's as well.

Later in college it was BioChem that got me pissed off. We had this professor that was a real pain in the ass and he liked to randonmly call on the 300 people by chair number to answer questions. the first semester wasn't very good for me. I think it was borderline D but close to C. Not good. I got nailed for questions as well. Over Christmas break I channelled that anger toward him asking me questions (really no more than anyone else) that I could not answer and publicly embarrasing me (really no more than anyone else again as even my "smart" friends were flunking. It turns out that this class was the great sort class for med students. If you don't get a B then you were encouraged to not proceed into pre-med or medical school! I didn't know that going into the class of course!) I turned that anger into the motivation to be able to answer every single question he could possibly ask and not miss one! Well I was able to do that and I didn't miss a single question the last semester. I got an A for that semester and barely a B in the class.

It seem that I like to raise to challenges by and staying motivated by focusing my "anger" toward a goal and then using that "anger" to keep me on track. In light of all of this I have decided to focus my engergy (not going to use "anger" anymore because it really isn't that I'm angry, I think it's more that I love the challenge) toward successful trading of a system by reminding myself of a few choice comments from a guy I took a seminar from 6 years ago..... He kinda really pissed me off back then and so I am going to let that collect energy and then focus that toward following a solid plan. I will be backtesting that plan today and tomorrow and for as long as it takes using the unoptimized yellow dot entry and no more than 2 or 3 exits, yellow dot being one of them, and emergency stop being another. There is a video by George in the trading authority room that I need to watch before I put this into action. I hope to be able to get over here this weekend (old house with internet) to do that. Lately I have been sidetracked by trying to write code to test things, writing code to autotrade, and a rather large move into a new house that is still not quite done. I am going to stop diverting my efforts of writing code or other backtesting until the first system is done and running well. then I can spend time following my folly! Until than head to the grindstone!

As you already know... this email was more for me than you!

Trader X

6.10.2010 rehearsal

2010-06-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGMJlc-o4-Q&feature=related

I was compelled enough to add this link for a youtube vid bedcause it is my belief that rehearsing is the only way to make and nurture new neural pathways to create the wanted emotional state ever time. This is my new mantra.

2010-06-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

I did an experiment today. the first few trades (2 actually) put me under water as I was shorting while the market was going up. I didn't get upset or angry at the market. I just recognized what was going on and said to myself I have 2 choices. Up to this point my plan was as rehearsed. Just a strong trending day is all. My first choice is to just stop trading since fading wasn't working. My second choice was to wait for a long entry. I waited and lo and behold a long entry came. I went long and that is where the emotional rollercoaster starts.

First... I stalked calmly. Entered and market went against me. I did not move my stop as it was at the other side or support. I just sat, literally, on my hands and forced myself to feel. Angry (bastards are going to take my money again), regret (Dammit... I should have waited longer even though that isn't my plan), Sick feeling in bottom of stomach as I was having another losing trade. Then I just sat there and let those feelings flow. I next looked at my stop and it was very true that if it hit my stop that the trade was no longer valid. It had broken the support and there was no reason to hang around. In fact my stop is my defense and I started to feel very good about the trade because I had stalked it correctly and entered it correctly and now I was following through the mechanics correctly. Hmmm I was doing everything right yet I wasn't feeling good about it. I decided I was just going to have to make myself feel good about it because I was doing everything right! I calmed down and just watched it. It traded up past breakeven an into profit zone.

It hadn't hit my tgt yet but I was at Break even for the day and I was very tempted to just close it out and walk away. I had my finger on the button several times.... but I didn't. I was going to continue this trade as I was suppose to. It chopped there for at least 15 mins and I just forced myself to sit on my hands. I forced myself to just follow the plan. I was so sick and tired of not following plan that I was going to do it no matter what! I can't be worse then not following the plan. I just watched and took in all those emotions making sure that I was very aware of them and feeling them to the max. Kinda savoring the moment. Ahhhh yes... I have formed so many bad habits, as per video, about running all my trades in flight or fight mode of short term memory that I refused to yield to my emotions. I was at BREAK EVEN FOR THE DAY!!!!! Take the money an run! Feel good about it because you had a sucessful day! REALLY? not following my rules might make today a break even day but it won't make my day profitable because I have limited it myself to just break even. Then if I don't follow my rules I am limiting my week to not being profitable because I never gave the day a chance to being profitable. Hmmmm I was starting to see that maybe those LIMITING emotions were really not good for me afterall... I understood what they were trying to do. They were trying to protect me. Understood! I appreciate it too... I really do but.... I have created very bad emotional habits with good intents. I was going to start right here and now of creating good emotional habits that don't limit my beliefs.

Now having said all of this I was completely aware that by not exiting the trade right then and there still might go against me and the day and week would be negative. OK... but I can guareentee it if I exit now... or give my plan a chance to succeed by ACTUALLY FOLLOWING IT!!!!!! What a novel concept.

I steadfastly sat on my hands and followed my plan. I moved up stop to below the next support level. If it broke that then the trade was no longer valid and I don't want to own it any more. Simple. The market reversed to just one tick above my stop. You STUPID IDIOT!!!!! You COULD HAVE BEEN BREAK EVEN FOR THE DAY!!! BUT nnnnnNNNNNNNoooooOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! you just had to follow your little plan didn't you! STupid stupid stupid!!!!!!!! you could have just walked away a winner but nope! A loser once again..... As it sat there just one tick away I let it all go... OK, just take me out. I was emotionally very tired at this point. I just wanted it to be over but I wasn't going to end it. The market would have to do it for me and I was quite confident that it would... just one more tick... Come on you bastards... take it! Why can't you just take me out to end this pain! I yield!!!!!!!! Take IT!!!!!!!!!

They wouldn't. The trade went back up to BE for the Day. Exhausted I just couldn't end the trade. I sat on my hands and just let the emotions flow..... Let me feel it all. I was following my rules no matter what my self talk was saying. No matter how stupid it made me feel, no matter what.. I followed the plan. The market just chopped there. It was creating a bullish flag with offered hope as each bar had higher lows. I just waited.

It finally broke to the upside. It broke to vengence. My first tgt was hit and I took off 1/2 of the trade. Then the saga continues........

OK, I'm BE for the day and actually at a profit but I need this baby to run up a few more points to erase yesterdays loss. I can just feel it. I know it's going to do it. I'm going to let this thing go because if it doesn't do it now... it will after it retraces. Yes, I know it will. I should move my stop down to make sure I don't get taken out. So what that I might give up most of my winnings for the day but I know it's going to run up there eventually. I know it!

I just sat on my hands and had my stop just where it should be so that if it broke down I capture most of my gain...... I forced myself to do nothing and just let it go according to plan! Imagine that.

It reversed and took me out. Now something like 2 hours later it still hasn't hit that level.

This is just normal emotional rollercoaster I feel on each and every trade. No wonder I can't do this for more than a few hours at a time!
Call this a live rehearsal of my trading plan. After the trade all those emotional parts kinda were in shock... I mean I did the exact opposite of what they all wanted me to do at every point in the trade and it still worked! I made money and now I'm at break even for the week with a great chance of being profitable. I think the truth that those emotions now understand, and will need to be reminded of frequently, is that the plan is a better trader than they are and even though they think they are serving my best interest of trying to protect me that they are doing more harm than good. That is the truth and they are now working on that understanding.

Maybe there is something to this trading the plan stuff? Heeheeee

Trader X

6/10/2010 emotions......

2010-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

the conquest of the last frontier has begun. The battle for not controlling the emotions... but creating the ones I want for when I want them.

Trader X

11/19/09 Today's journal

2009-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Today I'm going to do my swing trade journal. I have had 5 swing trades with much success. Here is the spreadsheet of trades to date. OK just tried to import spreadsheet but it wouldn't allow it. So here goes
bot gll at 10.69 from a band break and sold for 10.17 It just kept hugging the band and stopped me out. Lesson learned was to wait until likely break up.

bot eza at 50.92. Sold at 55.78 midline hit, and 5583 stop hit. The purchase was just band break and first exit was midline touch and then it stretched passed it and started to fade. I moved my stop up and it finally took me out.

bot iwm at 56.26. sold 59.08 midline and 59.57 stop hit. Entry was simple band break and then midline exit and stretched passed while moving stop and finally hit stop. Run on sentence!

Currently bot psq at 45.25 and waiting. Almost midline and stop to BE already. It was a midline touch but then took entry off of the high of the low bar.

Also long gll again at 9.75. It was a 5 day down, broke high of low bar entry. Still BE but stop is tighter at just 9.50. 9.50 is prev low and may not be a good spot if they retest.

Trader X

10/8/09 band trading

2009-10-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

After finally installing my smarttradepro stretchomatic 2.5 atr volatility bands I commenced to trading. While looking at the es all my trades were with the ec.
Going back three days is where I will start since that is when the bands were installed.
10/7 8:21am. Long 1.4690. 8:35 exit 1.4695. The entry was a bottom band long and the exit was a mid band exit. Fairly standard trade. The market didn't move past that swing high for hours. Captured most of the swing. Also note that the bottom band wasn't touched and the market was choppy sideways. There were only 3 real touches all day. 2 tops and one bottom
10/8 10:10 short 1.4777 10:15 cover 1.4773. The top band was touched and shorted. It was an upward trending market. I was against the trend but it had not developed at that point and was not evident. Market never yielded much more downside for rest of the day. Captured most of small range.
19:11pm session. One trade. Long 4757. Cover 4753. Small loss but market did proceed to go up 4777 the next bar. It was a bottom band entry and I was stopped at the bottom of the move. Stop too tight and cost me 20 ticks.
10/9 9:15 short 4749. Band touch. cover 9:19 4744. Once again a small gain but market didn't continue to downside. captured most of move.
10:53 long 4722. band touch. Not trend evident at entry. Exit stopped out 4713. 9 tick loss10:55 Long 4711. Band touch. Trend developing at this point but took entry immediately after stop out of first trade. Cover 4699 11:05.
Clearly I was hunting for the bottom. need a rule that states no re-entry after stop out for some period of time or not same direction.

trader x

6/24/09 things to test

2009-06-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

There was something I forgot...I need to watch my trades after the fact for at least 3 time periods in the future and see what the outcome would have been if I had followed my planned trade rather than moving stop or exiting too soon.

One other thought about non plan trades. The pain of not being in was greater then the fear of losing.

Trader X

6/24/09 A great day!

2009-06-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Did I make money today..... yes. Have I made money or scratch even all week... Yes. Is that why today was a great day... No! It was because I figured out a major reason for my equity curve issues. After tracking this weeks trades at the Smart Trade Pro trading bootcamp I quickly realized that one: I need to really go back and track more trades and two: that I am exiting my trades too quickly by 2 different means.

The first way is by simply moving my stops way toooooo quickly. The second way is by just exiting when I get nervous from a small retracement.

I am only trading one contract and I am trading scared.... not as scared as I used to mind you but still scared. The one thing I am doing right is I am much more diligent about my 3:1 payoffs. That has been the main reason why I have not blown up in the last 6 months.

These issues are very common.... way to common for us traders. I fact they may be the largest reasons why most traders fail. Most traders don't even know they have those issues. At least I know.

How do I fix this. I am changing my beliefs about how to trade better. It's not by taking off too soon in an effort to capture gains too soon. It's by letting my winners run to my 3:1 payoff and not trailing too closely or by just taking it off too soon.

Constant diligence is where it's at. Looking at my numbers or swing hi/lo pivots and keeping to my planned trades.

The other possibility is to appease my psychological issues by trading 2 contracts and using one as a hurry up contract. There are a couple of issues with this. You have to back test each contract as a separate trading system and get a SQN for both... The sacrificial contract trade and the plan trade. Only by tracking the performance or lack of it will I be able to completely change my beliefs regarding that style of trading.

Trader X

6/22/09 A new trader...

2009-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at a couple of things. One was my performance over the last 6 months. I am not a losing trader anymore. I am very excited about that but it has taken 5 years for me to stop losing. I remember fondly a seminar I went to back in Dec of 2004 with Mark Cook. I remember his saying to the group that it took him 5 years to stop losing and I remember myself thinking that there was no way it would take me that long! How funny is that? I thought that I was going to just pick this up and this was going to be an easy thing and now 5 years later I see i did all the things the said we would do because none of us would listen to him. I didn't because I thought I was special and didn't need to. I thought I was better. Boy was I wrong. I should have listened but I didn't.

Mark, if your out there reading this ( I know your not) but if you are I want to officially apologize for thinking that I would never do all the things that you did and told us we would if we didn't listen. I didn't listen and I did them all.

Trader X

6/22/09 A new day.....

2009-06-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

Today was a pretty good day for a trend day. I learned something about reversion to the mean trading. I need to stay away from trend days. I got back to BE, but it was hard.

2 things. One, dbl tops and bottoms are my thing. And I learned today that when you enter you can then set stops tightly because by the nature of the pattern if it breaks then it wasn't the pattern. Good stuff

The other thing was that I really struggled to get back to BE and my last trade was designed solely to get back to BE. That was a bad thing because the risk:reward wasn't there and it wasn't really a good trade. I got lucky, but I shouldn't have done that.

The market did finally crash today as I have been thinking it would. The bear market is back folks. Get short, hold on, and make money.

Trader X

3/11/09 amazing things

2009-03-10T22:04:00.000-07:00

What can I say. Making money in a down market is amazing great and sad all at the same time. It's great that I am able to make money but very sad that this president is ruining this country and a profiting from it. Of course my first job is to take care of my family. It's just sad to see this country being destroyed in the process.

My etf sort system has been doing very well. It's amazingly simple and that is what makes it work.

I'm almost done developing my daytrading system as well. I am backtesting and forward testing as well. I think I have a great profitable system here and I expect to go live with it this week.

I am progressing very well through Van's program and I am almost 2/3 of the way through doing my homework assignments but I have to say that by far the most changing part has been Libby's program. It was based on building a life mission and living it everyday. Knowing what you want in your life is by far the most important part of living. If you don't know what you want then how can you make it happen. You can't create a plan and break it down if you don't know what you want! Simple! I still think most people don't give it more than 2 seconds thoughts about where they are going with their life.

The whole concept of creating your life around you is omnipotent. All powerful. I now know that I create my life so why not create the one I want. There is no reason to life the life I want. Period. Simple huh.......

Trader X

12/24/08 Christmas...

2008-12-24T20:52:00.000-08:00

Wow... what a year. I now have twins, a boy and a girl. It's been a crazy year for sure. Living for 3 months in Little Rock which turned out to be not half bad under the circumstances. Not trading well this year but finally uncovering the last Keys to the Kingdom. Now it's up to me and getting my work done. I will do that. Thank the Universe for creating times like these for reflections. I have many. I know have a mission in life.. not a goal, but a path. A path that is all my own. I also have the tools I need to walk my path. I have the understanding that I create my own universe and all things in it. Having that knowledge means that I am only responsible for myself and my own actions and that those actions directly lead to my path. With the power and tools of the universe behind me I know that I will not and can not fail.

Trader X

12/14/08 my brain?

2008-12-14T17:35:00.000-08:00

I've learned a lot about how my brain works in the last few weeks. I have finally opened up that pandoras box that is the 6 inches between my ears. Having just spend the last month working with Libby Adams, I've learned a few things about my beliefs. Here goes

I believe that I create my own universe and everything around me. I believe that my non physical self is part of the universe. I believe that the universe is the ultimate power and that I am part of that power and have access to that power when I am following my mission in life. I believe I have a life mission. I believe that when my Ego get's in the way I lose my connection to the universe. I believe my Mission is the create unlimited love and abundance and teach others, especially my children, how to create the same. I believe I have the tools to keep improving myself. I believe in me.

Trader X

12/14/08 I've been busy!

2008-12-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

not trading though... I've been doing some major psych work to improve my game and I can't believe the amount of changed I've seen in the last month. I've completed a couple of courses with IITM's, Van Tharp and Libby Adams! Libby offers a course that has changed my life and my perspective of it. I am officially in the Super Trader program and not trading until I finish some of my prep work that was my old downfall. I have made some huge strides forward and now I wish I had done this 4 years earlier. If there are any new traders out there I would suggest that you don't hesistate to become a Supertrader.

Trader X

11/7/08 SuperTrader

2008-11-06T23:36:00.000-08:00

OK, so I've finally taken the nestea plunge... I am officially in the supertrader program. This is one hell of a lot of work but if this is what it takes to get my head straight, well as straight as it could possible be anyway, then I am committed to it. It seems that the pain of losing so much money has finally taken it's toll. I am relinquishing my head for total reprogramming. It's about time. As part of this 2 year program of very methodical psych work, I will be tearing down my head for in depth examination. I have already started doing this and I've already had some pretty cool revelations. For example, I am responsible for everything in my life, good and bad and I create my world because I am the center of my universe. Since I create it, it might as well be a good one! Let's rock and roll!

Trader X

10/8/08 10 tasks

2008-10-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write several entries about the 10 task of trading. These are Van Tharps 10 things that every good trader must do in order to obtain peak performance. I am going to paraphrase some things so let's get started!

1. Daily Self-Analysis. You are the most important part of being a successful trader and therefore you had better be at your best while trading. It's a mental game as you know, or should know by now. I believe that we create everything around us, good and bad, so why not create good. How you may ask? By having proper mindset. After my 20 min mind awakening workout, simply spend a few moments and evaluate how you feel. If great then go to the next task. If not great then time to do my Universal parts analysis and fix things before you turn the computer on. This will involve doing some Alpha or Delta wave mind stuff to figure out what isn't right and then correct it.

2. Daily Mental Rehearsal. Sit for a few more moments and mentally rehearse the entries and most importantly the exits. Spend an extra moment on the losses, and my proper reaction to those losses, which is to push the mouse away and take a break. I visualize that over and over so that when it happens I have pre-programmed my brain to push the mouse away instead of doing something stupid. This is also a good place to ask myself 3 questions:

Why am I a great trader
Why am I going to follow my rules today
Why am I blessed to have this life and people that love me

3. Develop a low risk idea. This is where I fade the support and resistance of the 770 chart using a 3 point stop and 2,5,10 tgts.

4 Stalking. This is where I practice patience and have to wait for the setups rather than jumping into bad positions at bad prices. Using visualization I hope to give myself more advantages by waiting for better entry.

5. Action. There should be no second guessing when the entries do come. Just follow the visualized patterns and methodically follow rules.

6. Monitoring. My tendency is to sometime push the stops too close too early rather than let the trade breath and run for my advantage. Be patient.

7. Abort. If it is time to bail then bail. Nuff said!

8. Take Profits. Simple... just follow the rules of support and resistance.

9. Daily Debriefing. This is where I have fallen short in the past. After I'm done I need to evaluate my performance after the day is done. I can use my daily journal or this blog for that purpose.

10. Periodic Review. Every weekend I need assess my weekly performance.

9/28/08 Seminar

2008-09-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

OK traders... A new update for you. I have just completed a seminar by IITM called Peak Performance 202. Having done 101 a year ago or so I had to review before attending 202 with Van Tharp and Libby Adams. It was a great weekend and I learned a lot about myself. Some of which I'm going to put here. There was so much progress made and I want to document as much as I can before I forget it all! Also, there will be some new readers from the weekend as well.

Let's start with my head! Oh there is so much going on inside there it's a little scary! Let's start with some old beliefs. I had a bunch of very destructive beliefs about myself. Mostly beliefs of not being worthy, good enough, deserving (3 ways to say the same thing right?), and a few other beliefs thrown in for good.

The workshop was instructive because it allowed us to really examine our beliefs and establish which ones are good and which ones are bad, where they come from, and how to get rid of the bad ones! Simple right! Well, actually it is once you understand the pathways and are willing to start from ground zero.

The easiest way for me was to mimic what Van has done personally and that is to just start as if everything isn't real. Then construct the universe that we want... that also includes the beliefs, and the rules to the games that we want to play. Soooooo much here and so little time. Highlights please!

Once you realize that you create everything around you, you have the ultimate power to create your own universe. Simple right? Actually I think it is. I just keep asking myself when I think about things if it is useful or not. If not then I just disregard it. If it is then I keep it and build upon it. Start from the basics and go from there.

The understanding about how the conscious mind and the subconscious mind relate to each other is very key. Understanding how the subconscious mind works for good and and bad (bad programing from the conscious mind) is valuable in order to reprogram things for your good. Libby had some great techniques to teach here.

I want to talk for a moment about religion and God. What I do understand is that there are so many concepts of God, and therefore many, many religions from those concepts. If I had to guess I would almost say that it would be hard to find two people that believed the exact same thing, and that most people have their own little personal twist on the concept of God. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with how one person chooses to relate to the rest of the universe. Along those lines I am going to call my God just the Universe, with my personal goal being oneness with the Universe. One with my God, which is the Universe.

Along those lines we spent quite a bit of time figuring how we all related to the Universe and how that impacted us. I have not spent much time in my life thinking about that concept compared to others that were there and I did spend quite a bit of time thinking about those concepts. What I came up with is that the Universe is the ultimate power and that I wanted to be closer or one with that power. I believe that the Universe is abundant and that if I am willing to work or sacrifice for it that there is unlimited abundance. Law of attractions do apply for me. A new belief for me.... Unlimited Abundance.

One of the things that the Universe told me, and I am going to repeat here, for the universe to see, is that I was given everything I need to succeed. I was the mind of a genius, the looks of a movie star, and the body of a Greek God! Of course I have abused all those things so I look like a middle aged pushover but those were choices I have made and can change as well. Part of my journey toward Oneness is better physical habits as well as mental habits.

I have much more to write about the 10 task and much much more but I am tired and have to nap so I can handle the late shift with the twins. Much more later....

Trader X

8/5/08, another new start

2008-08-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

OK, here we go once again. Let's start with a couple of things.

1. Why do I expect this to be any different than allllllll the other times before?
2. What am I going to do differently this time to make sure I do not continue to fail?

First things first..... I have 2 more mouths to feed. That is what makes it different. Let me tell you about being smacked in the head 3 months early with fatherhood. Nuff said. I have reached a higher level of comittment.

Second, I am working my ass off in an environment where I have fewer distractions.... yeah, being in Little Rock AR isn't exactly my idea of a fun time and all but it does serve a purpose, which is to concentrate as much as I can on the markets.

I am re-devoting myself to learning some basic price actions stuff from a guy named Don Baker. Is it the Holy Grail? Nope but it should help with me with just staying on the right side of the market. I'm looking at only tick charts and have found the longer term ones very useful, just like the longer term time charts like a 60 min etc. I need to buy a printer and review the setups, plan, and re-learn to read charts.

Will write more later

Trader X

Revenge trading part II

2008-03-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time way back when... like maybe 2-3 years ago I wrote a piece here about my issues with revenge trading. As you may or may not recall I would get really pissed off after a losing trade or two and then let Stupid take over my trading. Stupid would do things like double or triple the amount of contracts and would take trades that were no were near being a setup all in the attempt to make back the small losses. Well, lets say that 9 times out of 10 this would result in a much larger loss and of course the 1 out of 10 times it would actually work would just reinforce how great a trader Stupid actually wasn't.

Although this problem has been there from day 1 I have made progress over the years. I finally stopped doing this to the extent that it would blow up my account on a regular basis. My accounts would only blow up on a semi regular basis. Real progress.

I have been working on the premise for the last 6 months that it was fear that was causing such behavior... fear of failure. For 6 months I have been doing psych work and exercises to solve this problem but to no avail. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. I decided that I have been insane for 6 months. Then I had a revelation... I was wrong once again........ So I decided to do something different.

I figured that if FEAR wasn't feeding STUPID that it had to be something else. My other choice was GREED and EGO. These two were working together with STUPID! The dynamic evil trio was at large. Ego was the main culprit. Now I had a problem to solve. At least I had some ammo to shoot at it this time.

I have learned several different methods of dealing with psych issues in the last few months at a few different seminars and I started with parts negotiations as my first line of attack followed up by more Centerpointe Holosync. Let me back track first.

Holosync is the reason I believe that I was finally able to figure out that ego was the issue. It is a great program that uses low frequency sounds wave via music to stimulate cross brain communications. It helps your subconscious communicate with your self. It was during one of these sessions of listening while thinking about this problem that ego came up. I try to do this daily for continued improvement.

Parts negotiation is basically splitting parts of your personality into parts, then identifying the one (ones) that are causing problems and then negotiation with those parts to stop the behavior for a reward. I told ego that I understood he didn't like being wrong but by getting angry like a child was not way to help me. It was causing me to lose money. So what ego and I came to an agreement to do was that he would not interfere with my trading, and let me make money so that I could buy something that he thinks is really cool. Something that would feed him like an L-29 Cord. It's a really cool old car for those of you that have no idea. Ego really likes cool cars cause then ego thinks he is cool you see. You can't buy cool cars without cold hard cash! So he said he would stay out of trading for that reward. Simple.

Since I have done this and reinforced it, ego hasn't cause one problem and I have had 2 weeks of money making days every day. I just need to stay focused to make sure ego doesn't creep up again while watching all the other parts of my ego.

Works so far......

Trader X

2007-11-29T09:31:00.000-08:00

Transcripts from this AM

teq56: got off 2 trades before lunch
teq56: first trade was I shorted 7275 area for Ib hi,yest close, vah, and gap
teq56: problem was It was the 3rd time it had been there during the day
teq56: very stupid
teq56: my teachings have been that the market acts like a membrane
teq56: it will resist a few time at a level... which each touch reducing the chance that it will hold
teq56: so by 3-4th time you know it's going to break!
teq56: 1-2 time is still strong enough to resist withthe first time being the strongest
teq56: by 3rd time % is prolly under 50% it willhold
teq56: this is the same principle regarding shelves on tpo charts... am I correct or not! Of course
teq56: they always fill..... just takes time to break membrane
teq56: ok so why am I shorting on the 3rd hit
teq56: because I'm stupid but I think I have a solution
teq56: I need to just make notes at those levels how many times it has been there already
teq56: OK
teq56: so I short 4 cars from 7075 to 7275
teq56: and get stopped at 75
teq56: crap
teq56: back to drawing board
teq56: so I look at numbers ladder again
teq56: ok
teq56: prev hi at 75 and IB 1.5 is 76
teq56: great!
teq56: JP has short in at 76
teq56: I short 4 at 76
teq56: stop is like 79
teq56: set PP on all 4 at 71 and change
teq56: only take 1 point of heat and about 30 mins later I take all off for a net gain of $25 for the day
teq56: great MP trade supported by another number (prev high) for higher % of working
teq56: also using prev numbers level to exit has worked great cause so far market hasn't penitrated the 71 area
teq56: also to learn which is why I'm writing this
teq56: jp took 2nd short at 71 ib level and made some nice scratch
teq56: but he didn't take the 3rd short there like I did
teq56: hmmmmm
teq56: wonder why he didn't do that
teq56: well.... we now have the answer don't we
teq56: market is like a membrane
teq56: it will only resist for so long
teq56: be smart, trade smart
teq56: I'm learning somthing I already knew
teq56: but that is a good thing
teq56: OK
teq56: lunch break

2007-11-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here is an example of my worksheet. In the morning I work on my numbers on the left side and then star the confluences. Then as the day progresses I journal my trades and other comments on the left side. The more the numbers line up the more likely they are to react. It works! I use the trin at the top just to make sure I know the market isn't trending... of course I look at the chart as well!

Trader X

I just stole this but it hit hard! Very truthful!

2007-11-23T16:07:00.000-08:00

Everyone wants to know how to find the holy grail.......but the HOLY GRAIL is not in your charting package.......It's entirely something else, and once you find it....NO ONE CAN TAKE IT AWAY.....

I was reading the the tradersparadise blog and had to steal this.

Trader X

PS... there is a link on my blog to his.

11/23/07 Degrees of confluence!

2007-11-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

Degrees of confluence. I found the Holy Grail. Seriously.... I did. OK, maybe not since there is no such thing but this has helped to make me profitable. I will call it Degrees of Confluence.
What does this mean? Well this is about the simpliest thing I've ever run across

If you are anything like me you tried trading just about every type of system out there and haven't traded it well. I have.

I've tried trading Pivots, Moving averages, Fibs, Support and Resistance, and Market Profile. I have not made money trading any of these except market profile. Market Profile has been profitable for me but I think I found a way to improve on even this.

Have you ever traded say pivots and had some trades just work perfectly... almost to the tick. the you will have the same setup at another time and the market just doesn't react the same. Why sometimes it will and others it won't? I think I have an answer. Degrees of confluence.

When I was trading some support/resistance lines by fading them with expectations of reversion to the mean I had a friend that was trading MP (Market Profile) and I found out that some of our numbers overlapped with an above randon frequency.

What I began to notice was that the numbers that overlapped had a much better chance of being a point of change of direction. Much higher % than the numbers that were just floating out there in space all by themeselves. I had and idea.

I went to a trading seminar where they told us to build a number ladder. Take all the major numbers from all the main systems and put them down on a piece of paper and just take a look at which ones have overlap. Are there numbers where a fib, a pivot and maybe a MA all fall in the same place? Those numbers have a higher degree of confluence. When you have 2 or more numbers in the same place (or area... say withing 1-2 points) you are much more likely to have a point that will have some reaction there. Those are the numbers that you should be trading.

Does this make sense? It works. If I have a MP number that doesn't match anything else I will be much less likely to take it. When I have an MP number with a fib or pivot on that same number I will take that trade without fail because it is much more likely to work.

Why? Because you have many more traders watching that same exact number! the more people watching it the more likely it will react.

Simple enough? You bet!

Trader X

10/15/07 Ten Task of Trading!

2007-10-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is a list of the 10 task of trading that I must follow everyday in order for me to propel myself to the next level of trading (that would be profits btw).

Task 1. Daily Self-Analysis. I am the most important part of my trading so I must make a consious effort everyday to make sure I'm in the right frame of mind to trade. I will do this by having a meeting off all my parts and making sure that I resolve all my conflicts before they can effect my trading. The 2 main parts that cause trouble for me are that I don't feel like I deserve to be successful, and I think that I'm not good enough to do this. I have to work on resolving those issues everyday.

Task 2. Daily Mental Rehearsal. This is where I mentally rehearse me taking my trades and executing them properly and without delay without regard to the outcome, of which I have no idea what will be. I will visualize in my minds eye and rehearse the signals just like I have sim traded them a 1000 times before.

Task 3. Developing a low risk idea. Well.... I am still doing that but should be done with my simple holp stuff this week I hope. So far it is encouraging.

Task 4. Stalking. I will have to be patient while I wait for my setups everyday. I can only take 2 types of trades. Holp setups and JP setups. That is it. I will wait until I get one or even better both at the same time!

Task 5. Action! As the Nike commercial says now it the time to just DO IT!

Task 6. Monitoring. This is monitoring the position and using my stop/exit rules without delay or bias.

Task 7. Abort! No need to wait. If the trade isn't working then exit as per rules!

Task 8. Take Profits! Once again... if the trade is working then take profits when the rules permit.

Task 9. Daily Debriefing. After every day is over I need to do review of all my trades just to make sure that I did what I was suppose to have done. If not then I need to work on correcting that action. If I keep making the same mistake then I will review Vans' work to fix it.

Task 10. Periodic review. Just what it says... take a look at things maybe weekly to begin with just to make sure I'm doing these things correctly.

Trader X!

10/15/07 thoughts

2007-10-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

I have been doing nothing but self-help work for the last few months to try and get my brain re-programmed so I can trade a simple system without bias. I think I have been making progress but will find out this week as I go to real $ for a change. I will keep you updated.

Trader X

9/6/2007 systems development

2007-09-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

OK so here is what I'm doing now. I'm taking the weeks last year that Rico and I sim traded our holp system and I'm loading into a spreadsheet for some R analysis and Stnd Dev stuff. Really need to know things like position sizing and expected drawdowns. This is the only way to do it. I should have more than enough info to do this

Trader X

8/26/07 Paper trading

2007-08-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

8/20/07. Rules, PP +1 then BE on runner.

S5050, stp 5250, PP +1, stp 5025, 4825, stp +2.25
+1, +2.25.

L49, stp 47, PP +1, stp 4950, +.5
+1, +.5
+2, +2.75

s49, stp 51, pp+1, stp 4725, +1.75
+1, +1.75
+3, +4.50

l50, stp 48, +1, stpbe, out 0
+1,0
+4, +4.5

s4750,stp 4950,pp+1, stp 4750, out 0
+1,0
+5,+4.5

s4750,stp 4950, pp+1, stp be 4750, out 0.
+1, 0
+6,+4.5

l4975, stp 4775, out -2,-2
-2,-2
+4, +2.5

s4750, stop 4950, PP +1, stpbe, out 0
+1, 0
+5, +2.5

l4850, stp 4650, -2,-2
-2,-2
+3, +.5

s 4575, pp+1, stpbe, 4450, +1.25
+1, +1.25
+4, +1.75

l4025, stp 3825, PP +1, stpbe, out 0
+1, 0
+5, +1.75

s3725, stp 3925,PP +1, stpBE,out 0
+1, +0
+6, +1.75

l39, stop 37,pp +1, stopBE, 3950,4150,4175,4225,4250,+3.5
+1, +3.5
+7, +5.25

L4650, stop 4450, PP +1, stop be, 4775, 4875, 5050, 5225, +575
+1, +5,75
+8, +11

Well, well.... lookie here. Dam system works. Now all I need to figure out is why I don't work!

Trader X

8/26/07 update.....

2007-08-26T15:24:00.001-07:00

It's time for an overhaul of my trading methods for daytrading. I went to a Van Tharp seminar called Peak Performance 101 and it changed my life. I can only say that I wish I had started there 3 years ago because I would be very much ahead of where I am today. On the other hand... maybe I needed 3 years of pain in order to realize how much I needed to do. Not really sure that if I have gone to Van 3 years ago I would have appreciated what I learned a couple of weeks ago.

I'm starting from ground zero. Starting with mental training then going on to trading plan. On the mental front I'm working on the Peak Performance course again and really going through the beliefs section. You don't trade the market.. you trade your beliefs about the market. I am working on getting rid of beliefs that serve no purpose or hinder me and keeping those that help. Then I'm working on my trading plan that will be formed around those beliefs. If you don't have confidence in your plan you won't trade it. I need to develop that confidence through my beliefs. Then demonstrate that the beliefs are true then I can trade those beliefs. Simple! Once I am trading I will follow the 10 steps of trading as part of my plan and continue to work on my emotional development of control via the feeling-release method/Sedona and behavior modification model that my Dad is helping me with. So far I'm impressed with my progress.

Tonight I'm going to do some random trading by picking a day at random and then trading it to help develop a belief about the markets and my methods.

Trader X

2007-05-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

open was 2575, 23,2625,27,28, 3250.

After setting the range it went neg in a hurry... crashed thru and ended at 1508 or something.

Gap filled

I need to start tracking ranges a little better. First hour ranges.

S 25, +1+1.

l 2850, +1+1

I lost count after this but here's what happened. I had 5 winners in a row and was up then had 2 losers just before lunch that were none signal trades... shooting from the hip again. I went to lunch and quickly made back the lost $ from the 2 losers on signal trades and ended up the day very good.

I've been trading the same money back and forth for about 6 weeks now... up 500 down 500. I guess this is a good thing because I've not blown out the account. So here is what happens. I follow the plan and make $. Then I get cocky and lose what I've gained. Then I do catch myself and go back to the plan. I am recovering faster and hopefully that will continue!

Trader X

5/21/07

2007-05-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Market bias is up and I am currently long and underwater. Waiting for a hopeful spike so I can exit. -1.5 on each

Trader X

5/18/07 expiration day

2007-05-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

OK so today I've really been messing up. Went short a high tick and lost 1.5 points. Now I'm long and market is not going up anymore! Crap... got me again for another 1.5. That's it! Done!

9,9 5,6, 1,0

Trader X

5/17/07 last for day

2007-05-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

OK 2 more trades to report. 1, 2 point loss, and last trade for a 1 point gain

Today was a BE day. Up 100, flat, up 100, down 100, then flat to end. Too much chop on this option expiration week. Likely won't trade tomorrow.

(10,10)(3,3)(1,0)

Trader X

5/17/07 number 10 was a loser

2007-05-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

OK so I've got a representative sample of 10 trades. 8 one point winners, 1 BE, and 1 one point loser.

need a way to chart this for record keeping. Win Lose Draw?

8,1,1. Win Lose Draw.

Trade 11 was +1
9,1,1

Trader X

5/17/07 so far

2007-05-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

So I went short on the open and got a point, then went short again but only lost a point. Back to BE on day but caught a long and got a point. So +1 on 2 cars so far and probably done for now. It's been a great week.

For the record those were trades 7,8, and 9. So, 1 loser in 9 so far.

Trader X

5/16/07 Some more

2007-05-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

Pulled off another 1 pointer. I think that is 7 in a row now.

Trader X

5/16/07 Could this be.....

2007-05-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what is going on here but I've been making some money.

I know... it sounds impossible, but I swear it's true!

OK so what's been going on here. I've been trading the same old signals but instead of runners I've only been going for the 1 point PP on both cars. No runners. I have TS setup to automatically put in a 2 point stop that I use as my trailer and adjust to 2 bars back +.75 if lower. Same stuff I've been doing for ever here.... except.... I'm actually following the trading plan. I just do the trades and follow rules and sure enough if generates $. I'm just following the rules! I've become very good at separating my emotions from the trade. I just do it and don't really think about it anymore. Hell, I barely even look at the screen when I have a trade on. I just move the stop closer when I can and just let it ride! Being out of town so much recently has really given me a chance to think about this for many hours of highway driving. When I'm at home I rarely get the chance to just think. When I'm driving with no radio even... I just think. I play it over and over in my head and rehearse and maybe I've become immune? Not sure?

OK this is 5 straight trades in a row of +1,+1. I'm going to track these numbers because I figure it's about a 75% success trade. 75% we get +1, and 25% -2 or less. Worse expectancy is about .25 a trade but odds have been higher lately and the losses aren't usually -2. I will track this like I did last year. I may have to review my post to see what the odds where then.

Other thing. This summer I will keep my +1 rule for the summer chop. If I feel it's a runner day I will add a 3rd runner but still +1 on 2 cars. Trailer for third car is same rules but will get taken out by trailer and not 1 point PP.

Trader X

3/22/07 Yes... I'm not in Kansas anymore!

2007-03-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comment Tradding Goddess. I should link your blog to mine... in fact I think I will.

Today I've been perfect on every trade. I'm down 3 points but an A for following rules. I was catching some crap in Palskank room for going long on high ticks and what not but for some strange reason you will always find an indicator that will not agree with your plan. Hell... I think that most of the time they don't agree with my plan... but I do know that my simple plan does make money over time. So I don't sweat it. Some work, others don't. What I was trying to get across was that it doesn't matter if the system makes money or not. If I can't follow a good or bad system then what difference does it make if the system makes millions! If I can't follow it then it isn't any good to me. This is where Rico and I developed this simplest system we could come up with... Price action only. Nothing else. Rico has continued his search for a better system but after we tested this one it did consistently make money almost every day. My only challenge was to trade it without fail. It was very hard to remove my bias and take every signal that came along. Very hard. Or I would shoot from the hip and enter without signal and they would always be wrong. Hell, the system was perfect for overriding my stupid impulses! So we spent a good 3 months paper trading it and it worked great. Then every time we went with real money we got burned because we didn't follow them. Then I would force myself to stop after I didn't follow rules so as to not hurt myself too badly. I would get better. After breaking rules 2-3 times I would catch myself and stop. Finally I would get some days where I would be perfect or only break once..... and I wasn't losing as much when I followed rules better. Still hard to override bias and emotions! I'm getting better tho... still working on it every day. Then there are days like yesterday when you think.. "man.. I'm there!" but don't get too cocky! It will kill yea

Today I'm perfect on rules... but losing money. Very choppy day and just getting stopped on entries. Just got stopped again but still haven't lost as much as I made yesterday.

Back to following rules. I figure I can always improve a system by adding more crap to it and making it more difficult which won't improve it but that isn't the point. I can add more stuff to it and make it more complicated but if I can't trade it what difference does it make???? NONE! So the point here is to perfect my discipline so I can trade a system if I think it is better than the stupidly simple one I've already got. Makes sense. So I'm getting crap for following my system when most people say they have a system but don't... and if they really do they rarely follow it. I am coming from the school that simpler if better and that being consistent is more important than following 500 indicators and waiting for them all to line up for the perfect trade. All I use is 2 price action entries and 2 stops. Same for both directions and that is it. Very simple and I am still learning to trade it!

Trader X

3/21/07 late session

2007-03-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

OK got another long signal and as usual I went long and market retraced. So I'm sitting and waiting and about 15 min later I finally get my PP +1 and I move stop to BE on last car. Now I'm dragging the stop right now and already +.5 on runner. So even if they retrace to my stop I'm still up 1.5 total for this trade. I'll take these little trades all day long until the big runner comes along like my last trade. OK, out at +1.5

Trader X.

3/21/07 PM Fed Day

2007-03-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

OK got another long and this time I followed the rules... Moved stop as market retraced but finally PP +1 and then the market took off. I kept trailing as I haven't been recently and the runner car is just going nuts... UP $400 for the day! Trade still going on as market it running like mad! Market trying to touch 1450 and will probably do it.

OK, trade just closed and I'm up $400 for the day. Followed rules and it works! How is that for confidence. The last big trade that was good for $300 was at an entry at the high of the day and then it started to retrace. Thought I was screwed! but I weathered the retrace and market finally hit my PP point at which I hung in there and kept the runner going as per rules. Beautiful!!! I am really close to being consistantly there... This is my year! I will tell you right now that I will be a very good and profitable trader. There are so many things that are clicking all together in my warped brain but so much of it is starting to make sense. I am getting this. I am really getting this.

Trader X

3/21/07 Fed Day

2007-03-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

I had no business trading in the AM but I did one trade and it was a BE trade. Could have made money but had to run to my Dad's house.

Fed announce and I was able to go long for a +1 point PP on 2 cars. Still working in getting long again. I exited both contracts but should have keep one as a runner because it has continued to run. That is twice I've done that in as many days... I need to continue to work on that. I need to listen to Van Tharp tape everyday... and review rules for mental rehearsal. Visually rehearse in my head every morning for only a few minutes before open.

Along a another thought was how to improve my HOLP/LOHP for entries. I've had a thought about trading in a channel or more to the point... not trading in a channel. Need to do more research on top of hours and bottoms and channels to further sort good signals.

Trader X

3/20/07 One Error

2007-03-21T11:23:00.000-07:00

First I have to tell you about my vacation trade. While I was in the middle of Kansas I was able to do a trade one morning before we checked out of the hotel room. It was beautiful... followed rules to a tee and netted $275. Nice....

My first day back from Vacation ranks a B. I made one mistake but otherwise perfect. I took a contract off too soon and it cost me a few bucks but I was still BE for the day.

I've been much better at stopping after my first mistake.

Trader X

3/7/07 revelations.....

2007-03-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

Last week as a great week... not because I made tons of money (I didn't), and not because I followed my plan (didn't do that either!) but because I am becoming aware of when I'm not following my plan and I am learning how to fix it. From my earlier post you can see that it started great but progressed to worse as the week went by. I am learning to remove myself from the situation and look at things from a 3rd persons objective view... It's like "Hey! He didn't follow his rules!"

I've also been able to figure out the circumstances when I start shooting from the hip. It's when the market starts moving and I feel like I am being left behind or when I start to anticipate the beginnings of a move before it happens. The anticipation was a killer on one trade last week. I anticipated a long signal so I went long... market started down. I rationalized that I should add to the position because I knew it was going to go up. So I did! How stupid. What I should have done was to exit as soon as the signal wasn't generated. Done, over, out! The other killer was when the market has formed a signal but the bar hasn't closed yet... and I just can't wait to get in before it leaves me behind. So I jump early only to have the bar then fail to generate the signal. Same thing... should have gotten out.

Luckily for me Van Tharp has just the answer for me... in his program he has some solutions to this problem. I am working on my discipline everyday and it has really helped. I am usually very good for the first 2-3 trades before things fall apart. If things are going well I get cocky.. if they are going poorly then I get anxious and want revenge! The answer is to just stop at the first sign of breaking rules. Before I am allowed to trade again I need to re-read my rules and plan and then proceed with caution!

Trader X
PS. There are some other Van Tharp things but you will have to buy the seminar to find those out!

3/2/07 Wow.......

2007-03-02T05:35:00.000-08:00

What a week this has been. My personal best was Tuesday 2/27 for $ but not for rules. I was a C that day but was having fun doing it. I've never seen a trin of 15 or higher. It didn't matter where you shorted you made money... and that was why I got a C. I was shorting every signal I've ever seen and not following rules... but there are times when you know you can do it and make $. Tuesday was one of those.

Wed was an A day. Perfect Day. No mistakes. Made 4.5 points too. Not a bad day all around.

Then came Thursday... my undoing. I was way too confident, shooting from the hip and digging my self a hole all day long that I never did get out of even after I calmed down and went back to trading rules again.

Today I'm 1 for 1 so far. Took long at 7:30 signal and it was worth a 1 point PP and .25 on the runner. So far so good. It's Friday and my last day trading before Vacation so it had better be an A day so I don't have to kick myself while I'm gone about what an idiot I've been!

I was doing well then I jumped the gun on the numbers announce at 9:00. System locked up and I couldn't PP and trade went against me due to TS freezing up. Bad trade, no confirmation, then puter locking up!

Next trade off valid signal got me a PP and then stopped on runner at BE.

Trader X

2/26/07 discipline

2007-02-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

Today I am only grading myself on how I am trading my plan....

Took first 2 trades from 7:00 and was stopped out on both for -1.75 points.

Then didn't take the first good signal after the open and it would have set be back to BE! No guts not glory! So far I'm grading a B. One mistake today. I will have to set a limit on when to stop trading... 2 or 3 mistakes.... maybe only one should be rule.

OK followed plan on next trade and was stopped again and now I'm reversed. Still only one mistake. Still a B for the day for my grade.

My reversal finally scored a point before a stop at BE on the runner.

Trader X

2/20/07 Tardes! I mean trades?

2007-02-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

OK, Due to Van Tharp I've found a new found respect and motivation for myself and trading

I've been doing very well the last month because I've been going back to the most basic setup (HOLP/LOHP) and only working on discipline. I've really come to realize that you can't predict the market but you can make sure you react to them accordingly.... and that means following your signals. For example: This AM trades below

S 56, stp 58, PP +1, stop 56, 5525, 55, 5450, 5425, 54, out +2

+1, +2, +3total

Then I got a long signal at 9:20 and didn't take it. Should have been long from 54 and market rallied to 6150 and is still going! Missed the tarde because I was bias to the downside.

I was up 3 points and should have been up more... not that I'm complaining but.... I will continue to work on discipline every day!

Trader X

11/24/06 Early AM trade

2006-11-24T03:17:00.000-08:00

Well I got up at 3:30 am and the market was tanking so I put in an order to sell a new breakout low and I was short at 140275. Set stop at 425 to start and just started dragging it down. My target was 140025 and it hit my price with hardly any heat at all.

It is soooooo much more fun to be trading in the direction of the trend.

Today is of note because it could be a pivot point for the market.... it will either stay above 1400 or more likely retrace below and retest a lower level before the end of the year.

Trader X

11/22/06 Wed

2006-11-24T03:15:00.000-08:00

I had a good trade on Wed before Turkey day but I don't remember what I did! Oh well. It wasn't much but at least it was a profit. I'm pretty sure I had a standard holp entry for a long and got about 1 point out of it.

Trader X

options

2006-11-16T10:42:00.000-08:00

This is in response to a friends question regarding selling verticle credit spreads with only 5 point spreads on the SPX. Like sell Dec 1460/buy Dec 1465. It's a good trade but you have to use limits to get your spread filled at decent prices. Sometimes they will and sometimes they won't.

I don't usually do straight verticle credit spreads, and if I do they wouldn't be that tight (5 point spread on spx). The problem I see is that the Bid Ask spreads are going to be hard to overcome with them being so close. I prefer to do diagonals but if you put these trades in with limit orders so you get your spread price they should work.

As far as the individual strikes, I am short almost the exact strikes (1460 and 1325) as what you are proposing so I like the levels, the only difference is my longs are in March and are at higher levels (diagonals). My trades have more risk.
For example on the call side I am short Dec 1460 but long March 1550. On the put side I am short Dec 1300 but long March 1100. When I sell these diagonals I try to sell them for the same price or close. ie. 1460's for 50 and 1550's for 50. Then of course I use the March 1550's as my long legs all the way to March. Which means I may be selling 5-6 calls against that one long option.

Trader X

11/16/06

2006-11-16T06:42:00.000-08:00

s 06, stop 08, PP +1, 06, 0475, out +1.25
+1, +1.25, 2.25 total.

l 05, st275, 3.25, 400, out
-2,

+.25 for AM

Trader X

11/15/06 PM

2006-11-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

l 140125 off a holp confirmed. Stop 139950, 9975, PP +0, out +1

+1

done for the day

Trader X

11/15/06 AM

2006-11-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

Long from 139875, out +1/4
+1/4
long 140025, +1/2pp and out
+1/2

Not much for an AM but it is +

I have really been concentrating on the risk reward numbers.

11/14/06 AM

2006-11-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

L 85, stop 83, out 1 at BE, out at BE on last
+0,+0

11/13/06 Monday

2006-11-13T06:43:00.000-08:00

S 8325, stp 85. out 85 -1.75,-1.75
-3.5 total

l 85, stop 8225, +1pp, stop 8325, 8425, 85, 87, 88, 8850, 9025, out 9025 +5.25
+1, +5.25
+6.25 total

Net +2.75

Just a very simple entry and exit rules... no magic here!

Trader X

11/12/06 A new week

2006-11-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

It is Sunday and I can't wait for Monday... I will actually be able to get some good trading in this week. I will be working on my discipline this week.

Trader X

11/6/06 Mental conflicts!

2006-11-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

I have been really working on some mental trading issues (yes, I know, I need lots of mental help!). I have been going through a course from Van Tharp. It really doesn't teach you how to trade at all in fact there it very little that has to do with the day to day activities of trading... entries,exits, stops etc...

What it does have to do with is the mental hurdles that make up 90% of the trading game. It is those that I am finally dealing with. In particular the internal conflicts I may have that prevent me from following my plan. I think I have 2 major ones that I've identified so far (hopefully no more!). 1. Fear of success because I don't feel like I deserve success. 2. Guilt. I want to avoid the feeling of guilt for being greedy or selfishness. I'm not really sure about the greedy part since I don't make money daytrading yet but..... LOL

Trader X

10/26/06 A new day

2006-10-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

I have been on sort of a trading sabatical if you will. Not because I wanted to be but more because of other responsibilities in my life that have taken over. Some of these responsibilities are never going to go away and in fact they will get larger, others are only temporary like building a new house... although it may take a year to finish.

During this time I've had a good chance to reflect on my trading over the last 2 years... and I've come to several conclusions.

1. I love trading and miss it when I can't do it.
2. I can be successful at this. I will be successful at this.
3. The reasons for my futures trading failures is all internal. It's all dealing with mental issues. 90% of trading is mental.
4. I am a successful trader because I do make money overall and sometimes I forget that. I am successful in trading options and not in trading futures. I make more trading options than I lose trading futures.... therefore, overall, I am a profitable trader! Sometimes I forget that.

I have had cause to spend a lot of time driving. I've also been listening reading several trading seminars that deal almost exclusively with trader psychology. I've learned a lot about how to change my thought patterns so as to not let my emotions or other issues get in the way of successful trading. I am making progress and I am more motivated now than I have ever been in my life to get this right. One of the things I will be working on again ( a constant struggle for me) is keeping up with my Blog/jounal. I will be using this for support and to record progress like I used to do... also to deal with more emotional issues.

Like today for example. I have call options that are going against me for the second straight month! Not good. Of course all I want to do is short the market and every short loses money because the market is setting new highs almost daily. Of course the 2 long trades I've made have been enough to keep me break even for the last month but the point is that if I have a losing option position I always want to fight the market and end up losing in hopes that I catch a turn in the market and then my options and trades both become profitable! That rarely happens. The whole reason for wanting to tade futures was to help hedge my option losses on the occassion that it happens! Which isn't often but it does happen.

Market is ready to open so I had better go

Trader X

8/17/06 EFT

2006-08-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

An Email to a friend...

I haven't had the room open much this week since you are gone and Mikee doesn't really hang out there much anyway... but things have improved for me.
I have been paying attention to H and JC much more.
I have caught myself going back to my usual antics and then I will correct my bad habits (shooting from the hip) and following our plans. I'm only down $40 for the whole week. That is a major deal for me. I will have two really bad trades and then I will catch myself and then trade our setups and do them right. I have found I am much less emotional after I catch myself... even to the point of just watching tv while the trade it going and just moving stops as I should... boring... just like it should be.
Also.. I know this is a bit alternative for 2 hard core conservatives like ourselves but the concept has worked... remember that email I sent to you from Olm trader? About EFT emotion free techniques? Where you tap areas of your head, chest or hands to change your thought process? If you don't I will resend it too you. I have a set of disk from a website that was free that goes into great detail about this technique... emofree.com the Olm trader email references the guy that created this system but the concepts are proven to work... invoking the left and right brain to get over emotional obstacles. It has worked for me in my trading. I know it looks strange but I think I could just tap my problems away! Seriously.. look into it. The disc are free or I can send you a copy of mine.

Trader X

Mr Ego

2006-08-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

So today I started again with real money...
Right off the bat I was trading even for the first 3 trades or so. Then of course I started digging hole. I wasn't following rules was just trying some crazy tick hooks and just on the fly trading.... Ended up down $240! I got made... But not at the market. I go really pissed off at myself! It wasn't the markets fault... Totally mine.

Here I've been trading this simple HOLP/LOHP method on paper for what... 3 months now? Every time I go to real money I start doing crazy stuff and just throw out the window what I have been rehearsing on paper. I was really disappointed with myself. I though about just shutting down the machine and walking away for the day. I decided that I was going to take a break regardless for a few minutes.

The important part of this story so far is that I used to just get upset at the market for losing money but for some reason today I took responsibility for my own losing trades because I had no structure. I was shooting from the hip because I think I must be some great trader that can just know where the market is going and it will go there... Well if 2 years of losing money trading hasn't finally taught me that the market will do what it wants and that it isn't my own person little minion the I don't know what will teach me that lesson...... except I might have finally learned that it is my fault and I OWN my results! No one else.

I took my break and almost walked away decided that I would go back to paper until after Labor day.

But then I saw something... a perfect holp setup... and it was in the direction of the trend today (up) so I said what the hell and went long. My first instinct was to start looking at tick hooks and move my stop to tight but I decided just to set my stop and let it ride... with a pp order in place.
Market moved and I got my partial profit and I move my stop to BE and then let it ride... stopped out. Now I'm down about $200. I go leave for lunch.

At least I followed my rules for one trade and made back a little. At lunch I just sat there asking myself just how much longer I was going to let myself continue to blow up... It's been almost 2 years that I've been doing this and the way I traded in the morning is the way I was trading the first morning I ever tried this 2 years ago.... like an emotional blathering idiot! Seriously.. Have I learned nothing in 2 years? I was beginning to wonder? Maybe I hadn't. If that is the case then why should I continue to trade? I shouldn't!

Just like RJ says "... if you have no reasonable expectations of making money then don't trade". I really didn't have any so why was I trading? I don't like to lose. Really, I have no gambling needs at all. Absolutely none. I don't get thrills from trading and losing. Then why do I do it?
I am beginning to think that I do it because I have this sick need to prove to myself that I can just wing it and do better than 95% of the other losing traders out there. Ahhh... so it's an ego thing... I feel like I have to be good enough to just trade on the fly and $ will just appear in my account. Like a mystical magic. I should be that good! Why... because the great traders I know all do that right? Well... no they don't. The fact that it looks like they do that doesn't mean they do. They don't!

So after I finished my lunch I put my unchecked ego into my drink cup and threw it away. Gone... Left it at Hardees. I went home.

There on my monitor was another perfect lohp. I took it, set my stop, set my pp and just watched. Every time I had the urge to take the trade off at a loss or a little profit I forced myself just sit there and do nothing. Even though my ego was several miles away it was still reaching out for me... like pandora's box... it wanted me to open the lid and let it out. I refused! I sat.
Market went in my direction and I got my PP. I moved my stop up to BE and once again just forced myself to just watch it. Stopped out again! Oh well.. Still I'm up another $50 on the trade and only down $150 now.

As soon as I'm stopped I get a long signal so once again I take it, set my stops, put in PP order and once again I side there for almost 30 minutes while the market trades sideways... at one point 1 tick away from my stop but I just sit there in silent defiance! I will not give in.

2 years of doing stupid things and for once I just sit there and take the pain of doing nothing but let it ride. As the market approaches my stop I know I'm out for certain and I am really getting upset at the market for taking me out again but I am more upset with myself for wanting to just lock in the loss and hit the exit button for no other reason than I want to be in the opposite direction. Ego says reverse. My ego had found me again but this time I found a better place to put it. I grabbed my ego and put it into a container of tupperware filled with ice and then threw it into the freezer! There! See how that feels Mr. Ego! I let the trade ride with my rules.

Market finally moves my way and I get my PP and move stop as I have mechanically done on paper for so long, so many times! Market continues to go my way. Every 5 min bar I adjust my stop to where it should be like clock work. Market stays sideways again for 15 minutes. Mr. Ego is dethawing and wanting to take profits and run while I'm still down $100. Mr. Ego wants to go against the rules. I find my container of tupperware and pour in liquid nitrogen for extra freezing capabilities and put it back into the freezer.

Market moves my way again but not before almost hitting my stop by 1 tick. Up it goes and so follows my stop. I have seen this before. I know what the market wants to do. I've seen this....
Market moves again and my stop follows... I'm actually profitable for the day now! Should I just take my profits and run? The liquid nitrogen is sublimely boiling off as my ego is trying to find it's way back to me. I follow my rules but the market is a little different now.

I've seen this before... it's getting weaker and coming toward my stop. I leave it. I steadfastly follow the rules and leave it. I am stopped. Out!

Now I am +$20.... and I am happy. Not because I got back to BE for the day but because I fought my personal battle and I won. I finally won.

I think I have learned something... just hoping to not forget this.

Trader X

7/13/06 retarde

2006-07-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Thurs.

8:05 s 5950, stp 6150, -2
-2

8:20 l 6175, stp 6050, -1.25
-3.25

8:50 s 5850, +1
-2.25

9:20 l 5825, +1
-1.25

9:50 s 5875, +1
-.25

10:25 l 5875, +1
+.75

11:20 l 6250, stp 6050, -2
-1.25

11:45 l 63, stp 6050, -2.5
-3.75

11:55 s 6075, +1
-2.75

12:30 s 5650, +1
-1.75

12:55 s 5525. +1
-.75

1:15 l 5550, stp 54, -1.5
-2.25

1:35 s 5325, +1
-1.25

crappy day but still only -$62.50

Trader X

7/12/06 re-trade for retardes

2006-07-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

since I lost money this week I have to go back and retrade the week. Starting with Wed.

7:40 s 8050, +1.
+1

8:35 l 81, out 7850 -2.5
-1.5

8:55 short 7975, +1
-.5

9:25 short 78, +1
+.5

10:10 l 7475, out and reverse 7375, -1
-.5

10:25 s 7375, out 7550, -1.75
-2.25

10:40 l 7550, +1
-1.25

11:15 s 7425, +1
-.25

11:35 l 73, O/R 71, -2
-2.25

11:45 s 71, +1
-1.25

12:30 s 6850, +1
-.25

1:20 l, 6950, 6775, -1.75
-2

1:35 s 68, +1
-1

2:05 l 67, +1
0

2:30 s 6725 +1
+1

This was a crappy day but I may have covered commissions.

Trader X

7/15/06 Week finally over

2006-07-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

Thank God! It hasn't been a good one but it was close. My options haven't blown up yet but they may next week. It was close on Friday. My daytrading is in the toilet and isn't getting better. Something has to change besides my equity going down.

I have a list of changes to make.

1. Stop trading.
2. Start paper trading again.
3. Paper trade the YM for a multitude of reasons.
4. Figure out a way to reprogram my brain to follow rules.

Trader X

2006-07-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

I find it a great place to vent my thoughts and ideas and occasionally I will go back and re-read my early stuff. It really helps to see just how far I have come. Sometimes I need to think about that when I get discouraged, which can be often. The funny thing about this job of trading is that no 2 people go through it the same. It is a journey that every trader has to make for themselves because we are all different. If there was a boilerplate way to do this then so many traders would make it... of course if that was true then it wouldn't be as profitable as it can be. Rico and I have really helped each other out because we are close to the same place and we think alike. That helps. I have another friend that is completely different in his mentality but he is taking his own journey. We talk a lot but he is in a different trading place than I am. He is still making mistakes that I was making a year ago but who's to say that his journey should be the same as mine? He may find a better path than I do. All I know is that I feel as though I am very close to getting this thing.
4 steps of learning are: 1.Unconscious, incompetence. You don't even know what you don't know
2. Conscious, incompetence. You know what you don't know and can start to learn it.
3. Conscious, competence. You know what you need to know but you still have to force yourself to do it right. This is the stage where I am now.
4. unconscious competence. you know what you need to know to trade and you don't need to think about it anymore. It just come naturally. Your brain is now riding a bike at this point.
This was so good I'm going to put this into my blog!

Trader X

interesting....

2006-07-09T10:04:00.001-07:00

I was doing a little research this weekend and discovered something that I think is worth noting. I was going to back to see whether the partial profits of 1 point (pp's), or waiting for my reversals or stops was more profitable and I saw an interesting thing... it commonly seems like my worse loss of the day is right around 10:00? A fake signal and then backfire... I wonder if this is because the traders are getting out of there trades for lunch (11:00 ET). I would see this just before 10 once but mostly at 10:10 or 10:20 signals? I will have to watch for those.

By the way it turns out that the pp method and the hold for reversal/stop method are about the same. Both make about the same number of points... the difference is consistancy. The pp's are about 70-80% while the other method is about 50%. The reversal/stop (r/t) has a lot of little gains and losses and then a few big gains to put it over the edge. The r/t method may have had a slightly larger outcome over the long run. The other factor was when they worked. The r/t method of exit seems to work best in the first 2 and the last 2 hours of trading, while the pp method did better during the duldrums it seems.

If I switch to one contract (car) then I will trade r/t in am and pm, and pp during lunch if I am around.

Trader X

interesting....

2006-07-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

7/7/06 A funny thing happened after lunch...

2006-07-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

I started to trade welll. I mean I actually followed my rules and did well all because I changed one little thing! I stopped trading 2 cars and only traded one. I just stopped trading for pp's and only exited on reversals or stops, and I made money! A lot of money in fact, for only trading one contract.

What I want to do now is to paper trade today again by the old method. I am tying to figure out what makes more $, partial profits or waiting for exits from reversals and stops.

8:00 short 84, pp +1, out 81, +3, total +4
+1, +3, +4

8:55 s 7850, pp+1, out 80 -1.5, total -.5
+2, +1.5, +3.5

9:15 l 8175, +1pp, out and reverse short 8075, -1, total 0
+3, +.5, +3.5

9:25 s 8075, pp+1, out 8050, +.25, total +1.25
+4, +.75, +4.75

9:50 l 8150, stopped 79, -2.5, -2.5, total -5
+1.5, -1.75, -.25

10:35 l 8225, pp +1, out 82, +.25, total +1.25
+2.5, -1.5, +1

11:00 s 8150, out and reverse 8175, -.25,-.25, total -.5
+2.25, -1.75, +.5

11:20 l 8175, pp+1, out and reverse 8250, +1, +.75, total +1.75
+3.25, -1, +2.25

11:55 s 8250, pp +1, out 7975, +2.75, total +3.75
+4.25, +1.75, +6

1:05 l 8025, out 7875, -1.5, -1.5, -3
+2.75, +.25, +3

1:20 s 7875, pp +1, out 73,+1, +5.75, +6.75
+3.75, +6, +9.75

For the record I did get all the signal from 11:55 for real and yes, I made money because I took them!

It also appears as though the reversal/stop method of exit is slightly better but also increases volatilty. I think I will use pp during lunch and reversal/stop during first 2 and last 2 hours.

Trader X

7/7/06 open

2006-07-07T05:33:00.000-07:00

OK, going to blog my trades today...

OK, a really crappy entry at 8750, why because it was a close above the new bar. Underwater straight out of the box! Bastards!!!!

already messing up. Stopped on first trade at a huge loss... -8 points.

blew another one so I am watching from now on. What at crappy week!!!!

Trader X

7/7/06.... just to prove a point

2006-07-07T04:59:00.000-07:00

I am going to paper trade Wed and then maybe Monday just to prove the point to my feeble brain that I can trade this very stupid method and make money. It's all about the exits anyway... If I could just get that through my thick skull!

7:20 short 8250, PP +1, out 79, +3.5, +4.5 total
+4.5

For the record.. that would have hit my daily goal

9:50 sell 7675, PP +1, out and reversed long at 7575, +1, +2 total
+6.5

10:10 long 7575, stopped 7425. -3 total
+3.5

10:35 long 76, pp+1, stopped 7675, +.75, +1.75 total
+5.25

11:50 Long 78, pp +1, out and reversed 7950,+1.5, +2.5 total
+7.75

12:45 short 7950, pp +1, stopped 7975, -.25, +.75 total
+8.50

1:40 long 81, +1pp, stopped 8075, -.25, +.75 total
+9.25

2:15 short 7950, +1pp, out 78, +1.5, +2.5 total
+11.75

Get the point stupid brain... the simple trading rules work very well.... It's you that doesn't

Trader X that is really pissed off at my brain for being stupid. And to think? I'm in Mensa! How bad is that??

7/6/06 bad day..... again

2006-07-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

why is it that I know exactly what I need to do but still can't do it???? All I have to do is just follow the rules and I won't get hurt.. or even if I did it would be less than my crazy off the hip shooting at the ES that I have been doing this week! It has to stop and stop now!!! Lost something like $600 today... why, because I didn't do what I know I can.

I'm an idiot. Pure and simple.

7:35 short at 8150, +1 pp and out at 82. +.5 total
+.5

8:35 long at 8375, +1pp, out and reversed at 8525, +1.5. + 2.5 total
+3

At this point I would have hit my goal but lets continue with the reversal.

9:35 short at 8525, +1pp, out at 86 -.75. +.25 total.
+3.25

10:20 long at 87, out and reverse at 8550. -3
+.25

short 8550, +1pp, out and reversed at 8325, +2.25. +3.25 total
+3.50

I should have taken a lunch break now.... but in case I didn't

11:45 Long 8325, pp +1 (took forever btw 12:45), out and reversed at 8325, +1pp,+0, +1total
+4.50

1:00 Short 8325, +1pp, out 8125, +1pp, +2. +3 total.
+7.50

2:10 long 8150, out 81, -1.
+6.50
probably would have stopped here but even if I didn't the last trade would have been +1 or so.

Instead I lost 12 points! How do I do this?

Tomorrow I am back to the steadfast grindstone....

I am now convinced that 100% of my problems are mental. Now I need to figure a way to reinforce that and solve my brain from shorting out as soon as the bell rings.

Trader X

5/24/06 AM

2006-05-24T06:35:00.000-07:00

Long 5650, stop 5350, 5950, 6150, out, PP +1, +5

Long 6475, stop 6150, 62, PP +1, 6375, out. BE on trade

Long 6450. -2 on each. -4

short 62, stop 64, PP+1, stop 63, 6250, 6125, 59, locking in profits from big bar, 5850, Out
+1pp, +3.5. +4.5 total

PM trades

Long 5000, stop 4700, -3,-3, total -6

Long 5000, PP+1, stop 5150, 5225, 5325. +3.25
Total +4.25

Other unrecorded long from 12:40, +1pp, +1.5. +2.5 total

Rico trade was +3.

There was a loss in there but I for -7 but I wasn't paying attention! I would ignore it but....

There was another trade I missed that was +3.75.

Short from 5750, +1pp, out Be on last 1/2
+1 total

long 5875, PP +1, stop 5625, 5775, 59, 60, 61, 62,
4.25 total

Total points if I added correctly was +8.25 for the day!

Trader X

5/15/06 PM

2006-05-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

OK, long at 9625, stop 9425, 9475, 9525, out. -1

Long 9125, stop 88, ... honestly I lost track of this one. I think I reversed on signal and then took that for a +1.25 points but I don't remember

Done for the day regardless. I had some problems trading my plan today.

Turns our the 2 trades I didn't take were worth 8 points. Instead I was off 2.5 today. Not a great day. I am giving myself a C only beccause when I was in the trades I did follow the rules regardless.... but I either hesistated or just didn't take the best 2 trades of the day!

This was the first day of real $ and that is OK. Start again tomorrow and work on getting better. The reason why I didn't take those trades was simply bias. I thought the market was going the other way and I was wrong... I have to learn not to follow my instincts. That is why this plan works... if overrides my instincts! That is a good thing!

Trader X.

5/15/06

2006-05-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

live today! We are not going to use the PP's anymore. Turns out that the system trades about the same either way and we can trade just one car if we don't use it. Trading 1 car today only. I'm grading myself on how I trade the mechanics today, not on how much money if any we make.

Long 9475, stop 8950, 9075, 9250, stopped. -2.25

Long 9475 again! Stop 9025, long candle stop to BE +1 tick, 95, 9550, out +.75

Puters lost net so I am flat but should be long. No more trades. Taking lunch break.

-1.5 in AM.

Trader X

5/12/06

2006-05-12T06:33:00.001-07:00

Short 6, stop 850, 750, pp +1, stop 6, 550, out. PP+1, +.5
Total +1.5.

long 750, stop 475, PP +1, 625, 650, out! BE on trade

Put call is 1.44 now and this would normally mean take no shorts but... practice again. So

Short 675, stop 950, 9, PP +1, stop 675 BE on last 1/2, 525, 475, 3, out 3
+1pp, +3.75, Total 4.75
Note, once agian I wouldn't have taken this will real money

Long 3, stop 00, PP +1, stop 175, 275 tight to BE on last 1/2, out -.25
pp+1, -.25, Total +.75. Tight was too tight. -3 ticks would have kept us in for bar close before market turned further south

Long 375, stop 150, out
total-350

Short 150, short, 450, 3, pp +1, 250, out 250 stop
BE

long 2, stop 00, PP +1, stop 2, 275. stopped 275, +.75
+1pp, +.75, Total 1.75.

+5.25, but rico had a -4 pointer so it's really 1.25 for day.

Trader X

I had to leave early and couldn't trade whole day.

Rico here to take you through the rest of the day.....

long 1298.75, (2:09 est) stop 96.75, pp +1, stopped @ 1300.75 +2
+1pp, +2 runner, Total 3

Short 1300 (2:30) stop 1302, pp +1, stopped @ 1298 +2
+1pp, +2 runner, Total 3

Short 1297.25, (3:30) stop 98.50, pp +1, stopped @ 96.25 +1
+1pp, +1 runner, Total 2

3:52 trade long 95.25, stop 93.25, got smaller by 1 car @ 4.25 -1, timed out @4.25 -1
Total -2

Total on the day +7.25. Made up for the -4 tarde & ended quite respectable on the day!!

5/11/06

2006-05-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

If I had been up early enough we would be short
8:15,short 2825, stop 31, PP +1, stop 28, 27, 2650, 2575, 2475, 2425, 2350, 2325, out 2325. +1pp, +5. +6 total.

Short 2050, stop 2350, PP +1, stop 2175, 2050 just to cover, 1950 before bar close, 1925, out.
+1pp, +1.25, +2.25 total

short 1675, stop 1950, 1850, PP +1, stop 18, 1675 BE early, 1650 high of this bar + 1 tick stop, out. +1pp, +.25, +1.25 total trade.
Next! Market drops are lessoning now. I will be more careful on signals. I reality I would stop for day or morning at least.

Short 1525, stop 17, 16, PP +1, stop 1575, hgh current bar +1 tick, 15 BE Plus 1, 1425 back to 2bar +3, 1375. out 1350. +1.75
+1pp, +1.75, Total +2.75.

I ignored several long signals here because the trend is down so why bother?

Short again1225, stop 1475, PP +1, stop 12, reversal and confirm at 1175.
+1pp, +1.5, Total 2.5.

Long at 1175, stop 950, PP +1, 10, 1125, 1175 out. +1pp
+1pp, Total +1.
Short 1125, stop 1350, 1325, -2 on both
total -4.

Long 13, stop 11, 1175, out,
-1.25 on each, total -2.5

Short 1150, stop 1375, PP+1, stop 12, 11, 1025, 975, out 975
+1pp, +1.75, Total 2.75

+12 for day I believe! Not bad. About 2/3 of market points we got.

Trader X

5/10/05 AM

2006-05-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

g'morning all... In reality we wouldn't be trading this today as it is Fed day but we needed the practice so here we go. Also not on yesterdays congested session. As the day got worse before it got better my tendency was to override the rules and start changing things... sure enough as soon as I did that my results would have gotten worse. I wouldn't have stayed in the last trade that largely put us back to only -.75 on the day. I wanted to get out early instead of letting it ride like we did and making +2. I wanted to take the trade off at BE. Just goes to show you, you have to stick to the plan!!!!

We are looking for a reversal off the low of the open to go long for our first trade. Missed the short but we would have gone short at 2850, pp +1, stop 2750, Out +1pp, +1. +2 for trade

long 28 on reversal, stop 26, 2650, out -3
long 2775, stop 2575, 2625, 2650, stop 27, 2725, out. -1.
short 2750, pp +1, stop 28, 2775, out. +.75
long 2750. PP+1, out 2750. +1
short 2750, PP+1, stop 2750, out 26. +1.5
long 2425, PP +1, stop 2375, 25, 2725, out +1,+3. +4

Wouldn't normally trade this late in day but... practice, practice, practice..
Short 27, stop 3025, 2925, 29, PP+1, 27, 26, out. +1pp, +1 out. +2

+7.25 today

Trader X

5/9/06 slow all day

2006-05-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

It was a hard day to trade... summer trading is here! Of course Tomorrow is fed day so that has something to do with it.

The blog site was down in the AM so I tracked on paper. I won't list every trade but you will get the idea.

Long at 2825 and stopped 2675 on both. -3
short 2650, stopped 2775. -2.5
Crap!
long 2775, PP and +.25 for +1.25
short 28, -3
long 2950, PP +1 out 29. +.5
Short 29. +2
Long 28. +2

I think we were -.75 for the whole day.

The early morning chop killed us out of the starting block. We got smarter as the day progressed and started moving our stops a little closer as we should in a slow market. I expect that as the summer progresses we will be doing this much more as we will need to be adaptive to the markets that we are trading.

Trader X

5/8/06 PM

2006-05-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

to continue this trade before lunch we exited at a loss on a reversal bar at 28. I wouldn't have taken this trade either but....
Now we are long from 28, stop 2725, PP+1, stop 2825, Above BE for total trade. Figures the second time today that I wouldn't have taken a trade and it is profitable again. You really can't trust your instincts at this game. Not yet anyway. Stop 2850, I was bored and needed to do something so I thought a 1/4 move would help. tightening stop to 2875, 29, 2925, 2950, out. +1pp, +1.5.

Short 2025, stop31, out +.25 as you can see below.

Here are the trades Rico finished tracking for me.

2:16 PM) enrico sepedo: am using top of 2nd prior candle to keep tight stop on shorts as mentioned earlier today
(2:17 PM) enrico sepedo: Stop is 30.75
(2:25 PM) enrico sepedo: tapped on the pp, but not sure if we would have a fill
(2:26 PM) enrico sepedo: stop to 30.50
(2:32 PM) enrico sepedo: got an holp rversal at 29.00; +.25 on both, long from there now
(2:33 PM) enrico sepedo: stop is at 27.75
(2:46 PM) enrico sepedo: stop to 28
(2:50 PM) enrico sepedo: another reverse to short @28.75, getting late (3:50) but will track
(2:51 PM) enrico sepedo: -.75 on both on the last one
(2:51 PM) enrico sepedo: stop is @ 29.50
(2:56 PM) enrico sepedo: 29.25 now
(3:08 PM) enrico sepedo: pp @ 27.75
(3:09 PM) enrico sepedo: stop to 29
(3:13 PM) enrico sepedo: out runner @ 27.50 @ 4:13 (time)
(3:14 PM) enrico sepedo: +1 & +1.25 on the last one

Rico tracked the rest of the day so here are the last trades
-.75, -.75, +1, +1.5, add the +1, +1,5 from first trade on this post, - the -.5 from AM and we were up 3.25 for day. Not bad!

Trader X

5/8/06 AM

2006-05-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

We had a nice run up on Friday so today may be a consolidation day or a continuation, or a retrace. It could also stay the same. I think that about covers it!

2925 long, stop 2725, stop 28, PP +1 at 3025, stop 2850, 2925 BE on last 1/2 now, reversal bar with confirm close out and reverse at 30. +1pp, +.75

A side not today. I'm running stops a little tighter than usual because of the consolidation nature of the market today. I may not let wait 2 bars to start trailing and I might not always use +-3 ticks.

Short 30, stop 3125, 3075. out 3025 and reversed on reversal bar and confirm. -.25 on both

long 3025 stop is 29, out and reversed @ 2950. -.75 on both.

I wouldn't have taken this next trade IRL. I am tracking it only to be consistant. Of course it will be the big winner of the day.

short 2950. stop 31, 3050, 2975, PP +1 at 2850, stop 2925 BE on last 1/2, Almost a reversal bar but not confirms. We are in congestion now. Stop still 2925, stop 2850, Reversal bar and confirm exit and reversal at 2825. +1PP and +1.25

Long 2825, stop 2625, 2650, out 2750 on reversal. -.75 on both.

short 2750, stop 2875, out 28 on reversal bar. done for AM -.50 on both

We are -.50 for all of the morning, and make money on the trades I had lowest confidence in.

Trader X

Hope/Lope Summary

2006-05-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

We have been paper trading this very simple reversal setup for a week now and it seems to be working very well. We are going to continue to trade this some more with the hopes of working on the mechanics of the trade even more next week. As I recall we didn't have a single losing session last week. We had a lot of trades that were -1 to +1 and then a few that went up to +5. I think our worst loss was -1.5 but I haven't really checked the notes. I have written up a document describing our full proceedure and may post that soon.

Trader X

5/5/06 Cinco de Mayo PM

2006-05-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

lohp sell at 2750 on reversal?, stop 29, 2850, 2775, PP+1, stop 2725, 2675, stopped 2675, +1pp, +.5. Total Trade +1.5

I think that is going to be the last trade of the day for us. Market at new 6 year highs so next week should be interesting!

Trader X

Rico talked me into one more trade.
Long 3000, stop 2825, out at 3000. BE on Trade

I will do a summary later

5/5/06 Cinco de Mayo!

2006-05-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

first call low confidence call. Sell 2375. Market strong this AM because of employment numbers being better than expected. Hit new highs but now retracing. If this sucker goes up I'm reversing fast. Stp 2575, +1 PP@ 2275, Stop 2525. Stopped. +1pp, -1.5. -.5 on trade.

bot 2450, stop 2250,23, +1pp, 2375, 2450, 26, Looks like a winner no matter what now. Out 2750 on reversal. +1pp, +3

I'm going to let Rico take over from here.

Trader X.

5/4/06 summary

2006-05-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today was good for 13.25 points. Today was our best day so far. Very nice indeed. Will only trade 1/2 day tomorrow and then call it quits for the week.

Trader X.

PS. Bond trade was good today as well.

5/4/06 Lunch

2006-05-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't trade it but there was a sell entry at 1750, stp 19, PP +1, stp 18, 1650, 1625, 1550, stopped. +1, +2.

Long 1550 on reversal. stp 1325, 1425, 1450, 1475, pp 1650 +1, stp 15, 1525, 1550, 1575, 1650, BE on whole trade now, stp 17, stopped out. +1 pp, +1.5 on stop

Short 17, stop 1850, 18, pp @16 +1, 1775 stop, stopped. +1, -.75

Trader X

5/4/06 am

2006-05-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

long 1313 @ 8:05. stp 1125, 12, 1225, PP+1, stp 13, 1475, 15,1525,16, 1750, 1775,
We have lohp reversal here. Out 1825 +5.25, +1pp.

Continue: Keeping stp at 1775 just to test method. Out 1775. For the record I think that everytime if you had held after a reversal signal it would have cost you money... not a lot but usually about 3ticks to a point.

On reversal signal we are short from 1825, stop 20, PP +1, stp 1925 (BE on trade), stp 1875, 18, out 18. PP +1, +.25.

If I had kept +3 stop at 1875 will track now. stp 1850, stopped. Once again, closing that stop faster has been more profitable.

Trader X

2nd day update

2006-05-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

OK, paper trading this for 2 days now and here are the results.

5/2 am. +3.5
5/2 pm. +1.75
5/3 am +1.25
5/3 pm +.75

This is for 2 cars with a pp at +1 on each trade if possible
7.25 points in 2 days of choppy markets. $362.50 which includes slippage but no commission.

Trader X

5/3/06 PM

2006-05-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

Bond trade was BE today

sold 950 with stop 1075. stp 1050, out on reversal holp 1050. -1.

Long 1050, stp850, 9, 925, pp+1, stp 10, 1050, 1075, 1175, out 1225 on lohp reversal. +1, +1.75.

For the PM Session we are up +.75

Trader X

5/3/06 AM

2006-05-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

looking for holp for gap close now. Market drifting lower with no entry yet. 9:50
There was a break at price 16, with a 1525 close with a sell price of 1525. 1375 would have been stopped. PP+1, stopped +1.5

Next signal long at 1350 (these are without retrace entries, just tracking them fwiw). stopped 1250. -1.

on retrace method long 1325. stop 1125. Stop 1250. Stopped 1250. -.75

Market is in down trend so we are waiting for next lohp for entry

sold 1150 and pp +1. trailing stop to 1175. -.25 Trade +75

5/2/06 PM

2006-05-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

The bond trade worked to day for the record.

market been drifting up all day. If we have kept our long on from last trade by keeping stop and not exiting from reversal signal we would still be long with stop at 16 now. The only issue is that we never would have had an entry because of the last trade would have stopped after the signal

selling 1725 at 1:20. stop 1925. this is a low confidence trade. internals say up. stp 1875. pp 1625. +1 on 1/2 stp 1825. BE on trade. stp 18. stop 1725. BE on last 1/2. stp 1650. stopped 1650. +1 and +.75.

Trade if we had stayed with 3 tick stop at 1725. then 1675. We would have been stopped either way with no additional gain.

Trader X